


I'll be reborn someday, someday, (If I wait long enough)

by RoundedLoaf



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Gen, cycle 65
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23559247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoundedLoaf/pseuds/RoundedLoaf
Summary: It's a long lonely year. Lucretia stays near Fisher when she's on the ship, it would be too quiet otherwise.A series of moments in Cycle 65.
Relationships: The Director | Lucretia & IPRE Crew | Starblaster Crew, The Director | Lucretia & The Voidfish
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	I'll be reborn someday, someday, (If I wait long enough)

The 64th cycle ends with a whimper. They hadn’t found the light. Time and time again they thought they were close, and with Davenport diving and dodging it shouldn’t feel like a whimper but they found nothing. It’s one more world gone.

Lucretia has a tradition at the start of a cycle. She briefly checks in with the rest of the crew, organizing meetings with each member to record their experiences. They’re her family now so she doesn’t need formality but she needs this structure, she needs to write and organize and record.

She goes to her room and pulls out four notebooks. The first two, red covers stamped with the IPRE logo, she labels for the previous cycle, readying herself to summarize an entire year, an entire culture, an entire world in a single book.

The second set, this year’s shorthand journals, have thick sheets of yellow paper and sturdy leather covers. The paper is from a lush planet, 10 cycles back. They’d found the light.

She labels each of the new ones, and returns to delve through last cycles notes. She’s trying to build a narrative, a description, something that will make what they’re doing, how they’re _failing_ somehow mean something.

It’s always harder when they don’t find the light, but this is the only thing she can do. The only thing left.

Lucretia finds it hard to notice the time passing when she’s fixing her notes. She’s not like the rest of the crew, she doesn’t know how to rush out and save worlds. She helps when she’s asked, but mostly she does this.

So Lucretia doesn’t hear when Davenport calls for a team meeting. She doesn’t see the city of white marble. She gets no warning about what’s going to happen.

Her first warning is her vision blinding to white.

A searing blast knocks her to the side and out of her seat. Her arms catch much of the fall sending jolts of pain up them.

“Help!” She screams.

There’s no response.

The ship lurches.

 _Oh gods_ , Lucretia can feel it start to fall.

Stumbling and shaking she makes her way to the bridge.

Her vision is blurry, but it’s clear the ship is falling and Davenport’s chair is empty.

Out the main window the ash grey rock she’d seen before has been replaced with a white marble city. In the centre she can see a magic cannon starting to charge up.

“Davenport!?” She yells. “Anyone!”

There’s no response.

 _Oh gods_. There’s no response. She’s alone on the ship. Something is coming for the ship. She can’t do this. She has to do this. She can keep the ship safe? Right?

She grits her teeth sits down in Davenport’s chair.

The pilots console is a mess of lights and buttons. She desperately hopes one is simply setup to reengage an autopilot but she’s shit out of luck. She pulls at levers, trying to get something, just something to happen.

She twists the steering wheel, and the ship veers left. Away from the city. She can pull it away from the city.

The ship is still falling, barely gliding, but the next cannon blast misses.

She can’t let the crew down.

She pulls on the steering wheel as much as she can. It’s not enough. There’s no stopping the ship going down. It is enough to get her further away from the city.

She braces herself on the pilots seat as the ground gets close.

The ship’s crash is loud and violent.

Lucretia wakes up on the floor, in the dark, halfway across the room.

_How long was she out for?_

* * *

She pushes herself up off the floor, the pain in her arms reduced to an ache, and fumbles for the light switch on the wall. The lights don’t turn on. Shit. Something must be wrong with the ship.

She casts light towards the centre of the room and she goes back to to Davenport’s chair. She flicks switches and presses buttons, but nothing happens.

“Is anyone else here?” She calls out.

 _No?_ She knew she was unlikely to get a response, if anyone else was here they would have found her already.

Nothing else appears too out of place on the bridge. They’ve gotten used to packing things well before the end of a year. Too many of Merle’s pot plants had been lost, smashed on the ground. Merle always wanted her to help with plant eulogies, which was always, well, interesting.

There’s a hatch to the top of the ship to her left. She opens it and climbs out onto the bow. The night air is still and cold. There’s no light coming out of the other rooms of the Starblaster. Either someone else also got knocked out or, or she must truly be alone.

Around her the land is rocky and barren. A high cliff shields her in the direction of the marble city. Hopefully that will shield the ship from whatever was attacking them.

A glimmer of ruby catches her eyes. Oh, _Of course_. She and Davenport had traced a rune of protection and non-detection around the edge of the ship. Wherever they are the rest of the crew won’t be able to find her if she activates it, but -

What ever happened to take out the rest of the crew and the ship had to have been very powerful. The crew is good, they’ll figure it out. They’ll survive.

Crouching down over the thin ruby line that traces across the ship, she touches it with her hand and pushes magic into it. The momentary exhaustion feels worth it as she sees the glistening field draw up from the line and push outward creating a bubble to protect the ship.

The runes will last for 24 hours before needing to be replenished. Davenport only keeps one spare set of ruby dust in the supply closet, but if the ship is dead and the crew gods knows where ... Lucretia can’t protect this ship alone.

She hopes the crew finds her soon.

The ship’s main living area and bridge are at the bow, and a hall leads past each of their individual rooms to the bond engine at the aft. She heads there, if the lights still aren’t turning on, well, hopefully she can figure out the bond engine.

She checks on each bedroom. Her own room’s a mess. The pot of ink she’d been using has spilled everywhere and she can see remnants of her painting supplies spilling out beneath her closet. She knows she should have secured it.

Taako’s is a mess and empty. Davenport’s is clean and empty. Barry’s room, Lup’s room and Merle’s room are all empty.

Magnus’s room is last. A soft glow emanates from beneath the door.

_Fisher!_

Lucretia’s face lights up as she twists the door handle, and then drops when she sees the state of the tank. There’s a large crack in the centre from the shock of the landing and half the water is pooled below.

Fisher whines, his glow pulsing sharply as he sees her.

She quickly walks towards him, grabbing the footstool Magnus uses to reach the top of the tank. She pulls the top plate of the tank off and looks down at Fisher.

“Hello Fisher.” She says, relieved. “It’s so good to see you.”

He hums a note at her, questioning.

“Someone attacked us. It wasn’t the hunger. I don’t know where the rest of the crew is, they’ll find us, but it might just be you and me for a little while.”

He floats up out of the water to meet her, his head gently touching her hand. Oddly it feels warm.

“Don’t worry. I can protect us until then. I have to.”

She stays there for a moment, taking in deep breaths and planning her next steps.

Fisher brings a tentacle up to touch her arm. Suddenly she can see things, other voidfish playing with Fisher, Magnus’s smiling face with a carved duck, the crew packed into this room laughing with cards and drinks. It's warm and hopeful.

A minute passes. The visions finish, and Fisher hums a small song, floating back down into the half-filled tank.

Lucretia smiles wide, stepping down to start to fix the tank. “Thanks” she says.

Mere meters away the bond engine begins to hum. The lights turn on again.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from White Cedar by The Mountain Goats.
> 
> This is the first fic I have written in a long time (like seriously )! Hopefully I should get the other two chapters written properly and put up in the next couple of weeks. (hopefully)
> 
> Say hi to me on [ tumblr](https://roundedloaf.tumblr.com), if you like! Otherwise comments/kudos would be really appreciated.


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